How to become a plumber in Kansas

The path in Kansas, step by step

There is no state plumbing license in Kansas. Check with each county or city where you work. A city or county may also use its own exam, but that license is good only in that jurisdiction. The training is the same as anywhere: learn the trade under someone experienced, ideally in a registered apprenticeship.

1. Get two years of field experience under a journeyman or master plumber.
2. Pass a state-designated standard plumbing exam (ICC, IAPMO or Prometric) with at least 75%.
3. Apply to the county or city where you work for your journeyman certificate.
4. After two more years as a journeyman, get your master certificate.
5. Get the contractor license from each county or city that requires one, and keep up your continuing education.

The full license guide, with every fee and form: plumbing license in Kansas.

Finding an apprenticeship in Kansas

Kansas runs Registered Apprenticeship through its own State Apprenticeship Agency, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor to register and oversee programs there. Its staff are state employees, and it may use the federal paperwork or forms of its own. Apprenticeship.gov lists the Kansas State Apprenticeship Agency as the contact.

Either way, a registered program means paid work with a mentor, raises as you progress, classroom instruction and a credential recognized in every state. Search open spots in the Apprenticeship Job Finder.

Across the country. Most plumbers learn the trade in a 4 or 5 year apprenticeship, with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training plus some classroom instruction each year.

Licenses and exams around Kansas

The license to aim for: None at state level.

Trade exam. Local licensing uses the state-designated standard exams from ICC, IAPMO or Prometric, with a minimum passing score of 75%.

Keeping it. Local licenses require at least 12 hours of continuing education every two years, or 6 hours a year, approved by the local body.

Coming from another state. A certificate earned on a designated standard exam, with the required experience, is valid in any Kansas county or city that licenses plumbers, without another exam.

What plumbers earn in Kansas

The median plumber in Kansas earned $31.36 an hour in May 2025, 22nd of 51 states, with 4,590 on payrolls. The national median was $30.67.

At the bottom of the range, a quarter of plumbers in Kansas earned under $23.67 an hour and a tenth under $18.81. At the top, a quarter earned over $40.80 and a tenth over $52.54.

Every state, the neighbors and what a business should charge: plumber salary in Kansas.

Jobs ahead in Kansas

Kansas's labor market office projects jobs for plumbers growing from 4,270 in 2022 to 4,430 in 2032, a change of 3.7%. Counting people who retire or change careers, that is about 390 openings a year.

Jobs are projected to grow 3.7% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the 2.3% projected nationally, ranking 41st of the 50 states in the file.

These are the state's own long-term projections, published together on Projections Central for the occupation group plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters.

Starting your own plumber business in Kansas

Check with each county or city where you work. A city or county may also use its own exam, but that license is good only in that jurisdiction.

Pricing comes next. Paying yourself the Kansas median of $31.36 an hour, the labor rate calculator's starting numbers (one person, 2 unbilled hours a day, $90,000 of overhead, 15% profit) come to $125.66 per billable hour. Try your own in the plumber labor rate calculator.

The full checklist is in how to start a plumbing business. The free Koira Office plan gives you a website on a Koira address, estimates customers sign with a deposit, invoices with card payments and your day's jobs in one place, with no per-person fee. See the plans.